28 | July | 2016 | Journey to Madison and Peyton

First, I have to apologize. My first post MIGHT have been a little confusing. Maybe the literary license that I took did not translate well and only served to muddy the waters. And, maybe I was in a bad mood and Kelly told me I should wait until I was in a better mood to post the blog. Whatever the reason, people have had questions, so hopefully this blog helps to clear that up.

We always send a cake and a photo album to the children we are adopting as soon as we are allowed. We have tried sending some additional gifts in the past, but it seems like they never fully make it into the child’s hands. We do, however, get to see them eating the cake we send and they come home with the picture album they receive, so cake and pictures have been the way to go.

We were sent pictures from Peyton first. She is six years-old and comes from the same orphanage as Ali, Jessie, and Riley. Poor thing looks like she isn’t so sure about the changes that are coming her way!

peyton_cake

But she did receive a panda bear from us, so hopefully that gives her a little bit of comfort until we can get her in a few months!

peyton_panda

Madison is thirteen years-old and is from the same province as Peyton, but not the same orphanage. She will turn fourteen in December, and under Chinese law will no longer able to be adopted at that point, so we have to be in their province and get Madison before that date! As in the past, the clock is ticking, but God always has a plan.

madison_cake

Madison seems to be enjoying the situation a little more than Peyton and even has a little frosting on her face! Hopefully she didn’t get any on her pretty dress.

madison_frosting

Several of the girls sent her letters written in Mandarin telling her not to be afraid and that they were looking forward to her joining our family.

I have blogged previously about the spiritual aspect of adopting and this adoption is no different. Every time we have adopted a child from China, Satan has attacked one of our children. Two weeks ago we received the final approvals for Madison and Peyton and Satan decided to attack seven of our kids instead of just one. From the day of that approval there has been one medical issue after another and we brought all seven up front in church last week to have them prayed over.

Ali is one that has been affected.

Since coming to our home four years ago she has had a continued drop in her white blood cell count. It has never been normal and has only continued to decline. Last week, at a regular appointment with her specialist, not only had her white blood cell count dropped even further, but now her platelet count was dropping and was below normal levels. They decided to send us to Cincinnati Children’s Hematology clinic yesterday where they did a full blood workup. This morning we received the results and every test, including white cell counts and platelets, is completely normal. God continues to direct our steps and show us time-after-time that we are walking in the path He has set for us and He will take care of all the details! There is a comfort and a peace of knowing He is in control.

We continue to deal with the remaining medical issues and would appreciate all of your prayers. Leah has outpatient surgery next week …